Queens Defenders Celebrates and Reflects on Juneteenth
Today, Queens Defenders celebrates and reflects on Juneteenth: one hundred and fifty-five years since all people who were enslaved in our country finally learned of their freedom.
While we celebrate, we must also acknowledge that this day comes at a moment of reckoning, as our nation confronts the reality and history of systemic racism. As public defenders, we know this truth all too well. For hundreds of years, this distress has been an undercurrent in a country that has not addressed the enduring impact of slavery, racism against Black people, and the brutalities and inequities that have plagued Indigenous people of color in a culture of white supremacy. We remain committed to rejecting racism in all its forms.
Our actions must be rooted in reflection. To make this a priority, Queens Defenders is offering all employees a fully paid day off to recognize the significance of Juneteenth. We will take this time to consider how we can use our platform to further the fight for justice.
The brutal killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks have ignited a movement in our city and country. There have been a number of wins in New York, including the NYPD’s ban of chokeholds, and an increase in police transparency with the repeal of 50-A and new rules requiring prompt release of body-cam footage. These are initial steps to a long journey of reform. Let us not lose the momentum of this movement and what we’ve fought so hard for.
As an organization, Queens Defenders recognizes that as long as injustices exist, there is always room for growth. Our staff will engage in a series of workshops on implicit bias, microaggressions in the workplace, and a variety of topics addressing the effects of race, class, and privilege in our office and the justice system.
Queens Defenders Announces Borough's First Community Justice Center
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and city-wide closures, the grand opening of the long-awaited Rockaway Community Justice Center looked quite different than planned. Supporters tuned in virtually, partners socially distanced, and staff applauded from home. After eight years of planning and lobbying, despite these unforeseen circumstances, the project has finally come to fruition.
On Thursday, May 28, 2020, Queens Defenders launched the opening of its Rockaway Community Justice Center. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, City Council Member Donovan Richards, NYS Assembly Member Stacey Pheffer Amato, and members of the Far Rockaway community joined Lori Zeno, Queens Defenders’ Executive Director, to make the transformative announcement.
Located in the heart of Far Rockaway, the Center is a restorative, accessible alternative to Queens County Criminal Court. Young adults ages 18 -24 charged with low-level offenses will be able to report to the Center, rather than travel over an hour and a half to the courthouse in Kew Gardens. The convenient location will result in increased attendance, and a decrease in fines, warrants, and jail time.
This peer and community-led court structure follows the restorative justice model. Rather than facing potentially harsh punitive consequences, the young adults will be able to accept accountability with dignity. “The needs of the victim, offender, and the community will be addressed, with an end goal of restoring the offender to his or her position as a productive member of society,” said Lori Zeno.
District Attorney Melinda Katz believes that prosecution is about justice. She announced that, “people deserve second chances; they deserve a right to see what their potential is and what the opportunities of life present to them. They can’t do that if a record follows them for the rest of their life.” City Council Member Donovan Richards agreed that “a low-level offense should not equal a life sentence for our young people.” The Rockaway Community Justice Center aims to ensure that the young people of Far Rockaway get that second chance.
Under the restorative model, the NYPD 100th and 101st Precincts, along with the Queens District Attorney, will refer eligible misdemeanors to the Center. Volunteers from the community will be trained to serve as attorneys, judges, and jurors. As DA Katz stated, this is “one of the most crucial aspects of this program.” These are the people that are familiar with the neighborhood, so it is critical that they have a say in the results of these cases. Individuals who participate in the RCJC will receive job training, skills development, and networking opportunities with local businesses and community leaders.
In addition to the community-led legal hearings, the Center will hold housing court mediations, restorative circles, employment-based services, as well as other social programming. Lori Zeno proclaimed that “here, the residents of the Rockaways will have access to fair, equitable, and restorative justice in their own community, by their own community peers.”
Queens Defenders is Awarded First Foundation Grant in its History by the Meringoff Family Foundation
Queens Defenders is pleased to announce its first private foundation funding awarded by the Meringoff Family Foundation. This $25,000 grant will support Queens Defenders’ Young Adult Leaders Program operating out of the organization’s Outreach Center in Far Rockaway, Queens.
The project will establish a professional development series and summer bootcamp to prepare Young Adult Leaders and Homework Helpers to offer free, high-quality tutoring services to local youth after school at the Outreach Center during the 2020-2021 academic year and via online sessions while social distancing measures are still in effect.
“The Meringoff Family Foundation is thrilled to be the inaugural foundation supporters of Queens Defenders’ Young Adult Leaders program. We admire how this program focuses on high needs communities that lack strong youth programming, particularly Far Rockaway, and that programming spans after-school tutoring for younger kids and professional development and career exploration opportunities for older kids.
One of our goals in making this grant is to leverage this funding to help Queens Defenders attract new donors to support their continuum of diversionary programs operating in Far Rockaway and Jamaica, Queens.”
– Stuart Post, Executive Director, The Meringoff Family Foundation
Queens Defenders’ Young Adult Leaders program provides after school options for young people from the Far Rockaway and Arverne communities age 16-21 looking to gain work experience, explore possible career opportunities, and become leaders in their community. The program helps Leaders build both the hard and soft skills they will need to be successful in pursuing their future ambitions, including college and entering the workforce.
“Queens Defenders is honored to establish this partnership with the Meringoff Family Foundation and we are extremely grateful for their generous support of our mission, programs, and especially the aspirational young people with whom we work through our Young Adult Leaders program.
The project funded by the Foundation will help our young people further develop their tutoring skills to better serve the 150 elementary and middle-school students who receive after-school support annually through our Outreach Center in Far Rockaway.”
– Lori Zeno, Founder & Executive Director, Queens Defenders
All youth involved in this program set a post-secondary goal of college, vocational training, or full-time employment. Queens Defenders’ Community Outreach team of social workers, youth developers and support staff ensure they are prepared to meet this challenge. Once involved with Queens Defenders, young people learn what it means to work hard, to be relied upon by their peers and community, and – most importantly – develop confidence in themselves and their abilities to see a future filled with possibility.
*****
About the Meringoff Family Foundation: Founded by Stephen J. Meringoff in 2008, the Meringoff Family Foundation’s mission is to make hands-on philanthropic investments primarily in NYC-based nonprofits that are working to level the playing field for young New Yorkers and invest in local kids to help them build a future. The Foundation’s primary focus is enhancing public education outcomes in NYC and in furthering critical programs in cutting edge medical research and innovative public health interventions.
Learn more at meringofffoundation.org.
Joint NYC Defender Statement On NYPD Brutality
(NEW YORK, NY) – Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, The Legal Aid Society, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, Queens Defenders, and New York County Defender Services issued the following statement on New York City Police Department (NYPD) brutality:
“White supremacy, structural racism, and state violence are deeply embedded into the fabric of this nation. The protests in NYC and across the country were not triggered by a few isolated incidents of police brutality; but rather are rooted in the deep-seated racism and perpetuation of inequity that this country has continuously shown to Black, brown, and Indigenous people.
We mourn with the families of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery. Their lives were snuffed out because of this country’s refusal to face our history and disrupt our legacy of anti-Black racism. New York City bears responsibility as well. Although we hold ourselves up as a progressive bastion, our city is home to some of the largest and most under-resourced communities of color in the country. New Yorkers who consider themselves “liberal” wrap themselves in white immunity while perpetuating entrenched stereotypes and harm. Amy Cooper instinctively weaponized her privilege against Christian Cooper because she knew that if she combined and repeated the words “African-American man” and “threat,” the police would not only come but they would immediately accept her word over any evidence to the contrary.
As New York City’s public defenders, we work for and represent those who are the targets and victims of police intimidation, threat, and violence. Thousands of people each year, the vast majority of whom are Black and Latinx, are funneled into the criminal legal system because of the deep-seated structural racism that we are collectively witnessing here in NYC. The disturbing videos and reports of the violent attacks by NYPD on protestors and the media, while traumatizing to watch, are all too familiar to us. They mirror the stories we hear every day of police acting with impunity, targeting, attacking, beating, lying, abusing, and disrespecting Black and brown people in the communities we serve in all five boroughs.
The people we represent live under a constant threat of surveillance, harassment, violence, and incarceration simply because of the color of their skin. They live their lives knowing they will never be given the benefit of the doubt. They will never be presumed innocent.
Despite campaigning on a message about racial justice, Mayor de Blasio has done nothing to address the many layers of systemic racism in our city. Instead, he has reduced the budgets for much-needed health, mental health, housing and educational resources in the communities that need them the most, while growing the NYPD’s bloated budget, adding more officers every year, and adding a level of militarization that has empowered the worst and most frightening version of police force.
And now, despite daily acts of violence and excessive use of force against non-violent protesters, de Blasio commends the NYPD’s actions, further emboldening officers already acculturated to see Black people as the cause of every “problem” and dehumanizing the very individuals they are sworn to serve.
We demand accountability and radical change. We demand that the City Council and Mayor de Blasio significantly reduce the size and budget of the NYPD. We demand that candidates for elected office decline contributions from law enforcement PACs and unions, and return the thousands of dollars they have accepted over the years. We demand that our government at every level acknowledge the first amendment rights of the protesters and denounce the NYPD’s violent response to such constitutionally-protected political protest. We demand police transparency and a repeal of 50a, the law that keeps police records a secret and allows officers to violate the civil rights of individuals over and over again with impunity. We demand investment in the communities most impacted by over-policing and police violence. And we demand that those harmed by centuries of oppression be allowed to decide for themselves how to deploy those resources to heal, provide, and thrive.
As the police continue to harass and attack peaceful protesters exercising their constitutional rights, we stand ready to zealously defend them. We stand in solidarity with the protestors taking to the streets, the bail funds working to get people released from jail, and everyone else who has responded to this moment by letting their leaders know that enough is enough.”
###
Queens Never Gives Up
Queens Defenders’ motto is “we never give up.” We fight for justice every day for every client to ensure we achieve the best outcomes. The COVID-19 crisis has brought a new urgency to our mission. In light of the significant health risks facing inmates who contract COVID-19, we want to get all our incarcerated clients in New York City correctional facilities released.
Thanks to our collaboration with Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and her staff, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the Office of Court Administration, the Parole Board, and our colleagues at Legal Aid, we are succeeding. As of the end of the day on April 1, 2020, 47 of our incarcerated clients had been released.
Using a triage approach, Queens Defenders attorneys and legal staff have literally worked around the clock for the past three weeks sorting through more than 30,000 records to identify more than 220 incarcerated clients who fall into one of the at-risk categories. These categories include persons over age 50, persons with chronic health issues, those serving a sentence of a year or less, those who are incarcerated on a parole violation hold for a misdemeanor and bail of $1 or less, and those who are incarcerated because they could not afford to pay bail at arraignment.
Every case requires a tailored strategy because each client’s circumstances are unique. Continuing in the spirit of the new criminal justice reforms, we will collaborate with our partners until all of the clients we’ve identified are released.
We are also providing COVID-19 resource referral services through Queens Defenders Rockaway Justice Center at (718) 261-3047 x 618 and putting together emergency food baskets distributed by the NYPD 101st Precinct.
Our community outreach staff is ensuring that the young people we serve are engaged despite social distancing. Rockaway Justice Center Young Adult Leaders designed their own advocacy campaigns about issues related to the pandemic that are important to them. They created actions plans, identified government officials, organizations, and other influencers to contact, and sent letters. Youth enrolled in our mentoring program are participating in a virtual media literacy program to understand and identify “fake news.”
Our hearts break for the families who have already lost loved ones to the virus and for those people who are struggling with it now. We are concerned for the welfare of healthcare workers, immigrants, those who are homeless or may become homeless, and those who are incarcerated and at high risk should they contract the virus.
We are inspired by the intrepid, devoted staff at medical centers and hospitals, especially those at Elmhurst Hospital, a facility that serves primarily low-income people. Volunteers throughout the borough are making sure that people have food, can pay their rent, get medical treatment if they need it, and have someone to talk to about their anxiety and fears.
In the days and weeks to come, things will likely get worse before they improve. Life may be very different once the pandemic is over, but it will be better thanks to the energy, commitment, compassion, and creative innovation that the borough’s response to the virus has spurred.
Queens never gives up!
By Lori Zeno, the executive director of Queens Defenders
Why We Do What We Do
Lori Zeno, Executive Director, Queens Defenders
I want to tell you a little bit about Zaire. We met him when he was a high school student In Far Rockaway. Smart as a whip, he lived with his parents, did well in school and had a million friends. He was also involved in some potentially dangerous, illegal activity – which he stopped once he became part of the Rockaway Justice Center programs.
Queens Defenders planned an event to support the March 2018 March for Our Lives and invited high school students to write essays about the impact of violence on their lives. Zaire’s was passionate, articulate, and clearly informed by personal experience.
After graduating from high school, Zaire joined Queens Defenders’ mentoring program, attended a leadership skills retreat, and started college in September 2018 as a criminal justice major. Unfortunately, his financial aid package fell through and he was removed from the college rolls. He continued to attend class, with his professors’ permission, and completed all the assignments, though he did not receive credit.
Hoping to go back in the spring, he was disappointed again by the financial aid system and became depressed and angry. His relationships at home fell apart and he was kicked out of the house. He could not afford to pay rent and became homeless and jobless. He turned again to crime.
Queens Defenders did not give up on him. We stayed in touch and he eventually returned to our Rockaway Justice Center. Our staffed helped him reconnect with his family and he moved back home. He applied to other colleges and additional financial aid with our assistance. Queens Defenders gave him a loan that he pays back by working in the Justice Center when he is home. And this past September I drove him to school myself.
This is the kind of work that motivates all of us at Queens Defenders. The opportunity to provide justice of all kinds – criminal, civil, socioeconomic – for our clients is our vision and our mission. We fight for justice every day for every client.
Mike on Top
Michael Osemwengie, Homework Helper
I met Daniel Rosero, a member of the Queens Defenders Outreach Team, the first time I participated in a Youth Justice Court at the Queens Library. At that time, my life was kind of crazy. I was hanging out with the wrong crew, my phone was stolen, and I had decided that was going to be it. I wanted to change my life, make better decisions, get off the wrong path.
I found the Rockaway Outreach Center and asked Dan Rosero what I could do there. All of the staff supported me: Mr. Parsee, Brandon, Daniel, Susana, and more. They offered me a volunteer role helping kids with their homework.
During the summer I dressed up as Elmo for the Domestic Violence Awareness BBQ. The costume was big, and it was a hot day… I am not going to lie, it wasn’t fun. But that did not matter, I had a purpose in mind, so I just kept my focus on that.
My fear about getting a job was that I get upset and angry easily. Life has not been easy for me and it’s been very hard for me to open up. Daniel had a strategy for me: whenever I felt anger or distress coming on, we would go for a walk around the block. He would remind me of my goals and ask me to breathe deeply to calm down. I do not have these outbursts anymore. I am so happy about this.
One day on one of our walks, Daniel gave me a sheet of paper that listed the steps I need to take:
1) You have to have self-control
2) Good Attitude
3) Stop being in your own mind all the time.
I put this in practice and I see now that there are other ways to get through life. As I am writing this, I will be honest – I am happy, I am proud of myself, I am Mike on Top, you already know, I learn something every day.
Even though my mom is no longer here with me, she is with me all the time, just looking down on me. I cannot use that as an excuse by saying, “oh I miss my mom” and feeling bad about myself, I know she is up there, she is looking at her son Mike on Top, you already know. I cry sometimes – there is nothing wrong about crying. I think it’s good to let it out, it’s good to express yourself.
I want to put Far Rockaway on the radar, because it is not an easy place to live in. Queens Defenders turned my life around. This is my family, the people I look up to. I feel like something changed in me, something that now I carry, no matter where I go it is in me.
I am so thankful for a lot of things right now. I am thankful for another day, for my job. As a youth leader and a mentor, I have to show what I am really about everywhere I go. Every time I have my Queens Defenders shirt on, I am dedicated, I am part of the team, I feel good because I earned it, I worked hard for it, and I got it.
When I feel like giving up, I say to myself “my community depends on me, they need my help, people are suffering.” Everywhere I go, I see it: people are fighting with each other. It is sad. I am so happy that we work together at Queens Defenders to change this. We don’t need violence, we just need happiness and love, and to be thankful for everything.
Runway to Success
Susana Vaca Coca, Immigration Advocate, Rockaway Justice Center
Most fashion shows aim to showcase high-end merchandise worn by willowy girls. “Hour Fashion Night,” an event organized by Johanna Flores, Employment Coordinator at Hour Working Women Program (HWWP) and sponsored by Queens Defenders (QD), turned that concept inside out by featuring real women in affordable clothing.
Most of the models were formerly incarcerated individuals enrolled in HWWP and the staff who work with them. HWWP was created by Hour Children to help participants achieve self-sufficiency and provide for their families by obtaining meaningful, stable jobs with living wages.
Through HWWP’s one-to-one services, they gain hard and soft skills and targeted employment placement. HWWP’s flexible enrollment dates enable each client and her providers to tailor a program and a schedule that fits into her life, accommodates her responsibilities, and meets her training needs.
Setting reasonable expectations and attainable goals that realistically reflect each woman’s interests, educational level, and wage requirements, while remaining mindful of the realities of the job marketplace, is also part of the program. Group and one-on-one mentoring guarantee that participants learn appropriate social skills for work environments.
QD provides weekly services at Hour Children’s Long Island City offices including immigration-related screenings, intakes, and mindfulness meditation sessions. In addition, QD offers monthly Know Your Rights Workshops to Hour Children clients and local residents.
All profits from the fashion show were designated for expansion of the HWWP computer lab.
Justice 456
Mani Tafari, Criminal Attorney, Queens Defenders
Understanding the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights is critical for black and brown people, especially adolescents and young adults. Queens Defenders is launching Justice 456, an educational tour of schools, community centers, churches, and other community venues. We want to teach those most at risk of a wrongful conviction how to protect themselves.
- The Fourth Amendment guarantees you the right to be protected from unlawful searches and seizures. Police cannot search you or your house without a search warrant or “probable cause” to think you have committed a crime.
- The Fifth Amendment allows you to refuse to answer questions from the police or prosecutor in order to avoid making incriminating statements against yourself. Understanding that you do not have to “explain yourself to a police officer” can save you years and perhaps decades in jail.
- The Sixth Amendment provides the right to be represented by a lawyer who can explain your rights and the charges against you. Do not speak to a police officer — who is supported by the District Attorney, the police department, criminal justice agencies – without a lawyer.
A person’s words can be twisted and used against them in a court of law regardless of whether they’re innocent. In fact, criminal defense attorneys spend a large portion of their time attempting to get statements made by defendants without a lawyer present thrown out of court. By remaining silent, you are much more likely to have a successful outcome to your case.
The bottom line: always be respectful and polite to police officers and never lie to them, but, more importantly, never say anything to them other than requesting the presence of a lawyer.
Knowledge is power. Understanding your rights and using them respectfully will benefit you in both the short and the long term.
The Messenger
Ken Smith, Credible Messenger, Queens Defenders
In 2012 I was just another teenager looking for answers. What would my life be in 5 years?
Things began to take a turn that year. I was 17 years old and a junior at Grover Cleveland High School. Not attending classes, not even showing up to school became my new norm. My friends were doing the same. We thought we were cool. We thought this was ok. One morning, when I actually did show up at school, I saw an opportunity to steal a phone, right out of a kid’s hand.
Why did I want to steal this phone? Just to get a few dollars? Was it worth it? What consequences would I face? None of these thoughts came to my mind. What I thought was, I have a great phone.
The next day at school, I was sent to dean’s office and later arrested. I had to go to court where a lawyer from Queens Defenders was assigned to be my attorney. She arranged a plea for me which required me to attend Queens Defenders’ summer internship program. It was the very first one, and the first day, July 15, was my 18th birthday.
Although I didn’t know it then, this is when my life began to change.
There were 12 other teens like me who had committed crimes and had to go to court where the judge then referred them to Queens Defenders. During the day, we spent time at the law offices, learning about public defenders and gaining office skills. We also had plenty of activities outside the office: rock climbing, bowling, wood carving, health and wellness classes. I attended pretty much every day. I met a lot of people and got a lot of experience.
In the fall, I needed to find a job. McDonalds offered me a position. It was my first job. The Executive Director of Queens Defenders, Lori Zeno, offered me a job a few months later, but first I either had to return to school or get my GED. I attended a New York State-run GED program and was the Valedictorian for the entire state that year. I also went to trade school at the same time and earned certificates Electrical Installation and Building Maintenance. Ms. Zeno hired me as a data entry clerk and I am now working as a Credible Messenger, mentoring teens who find themselves in the position I was in seven years ago.
Queens Defenders supported me when no one else would. They encouraged me to look within myself for the answers I sought. Now, I am 24, engaged to be married, and a proud homeowner! My goal is to become a urban farmer, teaching people how to grow their own food. I want to be a successful Youtuber too, so I can share what I have learned with others.